8,000 Shares in Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) Acquired by Pittenger & Anderson Inc.

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. bought a new position in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 8,000 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $619,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Block by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,915,658 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,545,367,000 after buying an additional 585,801 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Block by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 11,887,628 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $919,508,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,514 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Block by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 10,377,973 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $802,736,000 after acquiring an additional 75,161 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its stake in Block by 3,525.7% in the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 5,935,002 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $459,072,000 after purchasing an additional 5,771,310 shares during the period. Finally, Bares Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Block by 0.3% in the third quarter. Bares Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,399,425 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $194,719,000 after acquiring an additional 11,376 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on SQ. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Block from $95.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Block from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. BTIG Research upgraded Block from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $85.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their target price on Block from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Block news, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 4,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.84, for a total transaction of $328,762.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 193,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,231,257.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 656 shares of Block stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.30, for a total value of $42,180.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 68,823 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,425,318.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Amrita Ahuja sold 4,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.84, for a total transaction of $328,762.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 193,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,231,257.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 363,801 shares of company stock valued at $27,284,175. 10.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Block Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of Block stock traded down $1.24 during trading on Thursday, hitting $72.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,270,332 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,869,120. Block, Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.85 and a 52 week high of $87.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.86. The company has a market capitalization of $44.82 billion, a PE ratio of 442.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 2.55.

Block (NYSE:SQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The technology company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.01. Block had a net margin of 0.04% and a return on equity of 0.63%. The firm had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.69 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Block, Inc. will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current year.

About Block

Square, Inc provides payment and point-of-sale solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's commerce ecosystem includes point-of-sale software and hardware that enables sellers to turn mobile and computing devices into payment and point-of-sale solutions. It offers hardware products, including Magstripe reader, which enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Contactless and chip reader that accepts EMV® chip cards and Near Field Communication payments; Chip card reader, which accepts EMV® chip cards and enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Square Stand, which enables an iPad to be used as a payment terminal or full point of sale solution; and Square Register that combines its hardware, point-of-sale software, and payments technology, as well as managed payments solutions.